The credit earned from the Quick CreditTM test
accompanying this article may be applied to the

AHRA certified radiology administrator (CRA)
asset management domain.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • By incorporating even the basic elements
of a more environmentally friendly,
“green” construction and design in an MRI
setting can create a safer, more pleasant
space for the patients and staff, better
images, and operational cost savings.

• Using building systems that have reduced
amounts of steel can decrease construction time, increase thermal insulation, and
reduce the weight of the structure meaning less energy required to transport and
install. HVAC systems and lighting design
can also play a major role in creating a
“green” MRI suite.

• LEED certification places a focus on quality
of the built environment, life cycle cost,
and a productive indoor environment, as
well as impact on the exterior environment. An LEED certified building considers costs and benefits for the lifetime of
the building.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Thoughtful design of an
imaging suite can result in a safer facility
that creates a more pleasing environment
for the patient, produces better images,
and is less expensive to operate. Although
there are specific benefits throughout all
modalities, the focus for this discussion
is on MRI.

Isn’t “green” construction making
buildings out of hay bales and old sneakers? How does “green” construction
make a safer facility? How can “reduced
carbon footprint” mean a more pleasing
environment for the patients? How can
any of this relate to better images and
lower operational costs? Well, it all starts
at the very beginning – which is a very
good place to start. See Figure 1.

Building Structure

Any discussion of green building techniques should start with the “traditional”
building of the building. The traditional
materials and methods tend to utilize a
fair amount of steel: structural steel columns and light gauge steel studs to frame
the exterior walls; steel decking that supports the roofing is in turn held up by
steel joists or steel beams. In addition
to being a resource-intensive material,
steel can interfere with good MR imaging, especially if it can move or vibrate.

In many cases, the steel studs in the walls
are increased in number, thickness, or
both, in order to minimize any vibration that may be induced by proximity
to such a large magnetic pull as from a
MR bore. This, in turn, compounds the
issue of having such a large amount of
ferrous material within the fields of the
magnet—again, potentially leading to
decreased image quality.

By using building systems that have
reduced amounts of steel—or, preferably, none at all—many issues are ameliorated. Instead of walls framed in steel
with steel roof structures, the use of
structural insulated panels (SIPs, which
are “sandwich” panels of rigid foam
insulation between sheets of plywood
or oriented strand board) can decrease
construction time, increase thermal insulation, and reduce the weight of the
structure meaning less energy required
to transport and install. 1 In one designed
building scheduled to start construction
very soon, the amount of structural steel
was reduced by 16 tons for a 3800 square
foot dual MRI suite. SIPs may qualify as
using rapidly renewable materials, which
makes them more sustainable. SIPs can
also use low-emitting glues, which improve indoor air quality. Each of these
features can help qualify for points if the
facility is going for Leadership in Energy